4 ms·

Any reasonable non-profit will accept stock, and every non profit I've been involved with liquidates them immediately and uses the money. Generally, a mission-d

Any reasonable non-profit will accept stock, and every non profit I've been involved with liquidates them immediately and uses the money. Generally, a mission-driven org needs money, not a well-balanced stock portfolio. It's quite a hit to their ``ratings'' as well, if they keep large un-spent sums of money around. Just imagine the clickbait article showing a non-profit hoarding stock instead of helping children in need. Those that do are rightfully derided so much that honest non-profits that are just trying to build their own infrastructure with self-directed spending are caught in the crossfire for not investing in ``programs'' enough.

enchiridion 5y ago
Rightfully? I mean the goal is a non-profit is to help with a specific problem in one way or another. Often long term goals are involved, so I don’t see any problem with holding appreciating assets so the power and influence of the organization can be maintained into the future. Of course using non-profits for investing shell games is probably a whole different problem I am not familiar with. But holding assets as a whole doesn’t seem like a big issue to me.
- jvanderbot 5y ago
  I believe it is right to provide recommendations against non-profits that hold significant assets in investments. I don't think it should be illegal or anything, but I do think that potential donors should be cautioned about this. Most people have the expectation that they are donating to fix a problem or keep an organization running, not increase the returns on investments. If a non-profit has a long-term strategy, that should probably involve setting up _other_ institutions that can self-sustain, rather than "We'll get rich first". The _problem_ is that this translates to some expectation that every dollar given should go immediately to purchasing something, and that somehow it's "more effective" for a person to go purchase things than to donate to, say, red cross. That's dead, dead wrong. Give money, let them invest in solutions. However, from the donor's perspective, donating stock, and other valuable stuff, is a good tax dodge. You don't have to pay capital gains taxes and then send money to the org. So usually the org is happy to accept these gifts, but yes, they'll sell them.
vmception 5y ago
yeah that's probably true, I guess the reality is that I wasn't looking at ones accepting stock, but physical art and crypto. Some do and that number is growing by orders of magnitude each year because its now the 2020s, but many think it's still the year 1997. It is surprising how low tech that entire sector is. It seems to be a recurring story for new entrants to the non profit space to be the "tech savvy one doing things differently", because the whole space is, I guess, not market driven as it isn't motivated by being technologically aware. Only getting a few recurring donors and doing their mission.
- jvanderbot 5y ago
  In each case, it is liquidated and used as cache. Some of the skill of the best philanthropy folks is in finding ways to offload these wonky donations that donors think are useful. However, from the donor's perspective, donating stock, and other valuable stuff, is a good tax dodge. You don't have to pay capital gains taxes and then send money to the org. So usually the org is happy to accept these gifts, but yes, they'll sell them.

enchiridion 5y ago

Rightfully? I mean the goal is a non-profit is to help with a specific problem in one way or another. Often long term goals are involved, so I don’t see any problem with holding appreciating assets so the power and influence of the organization can be maintained into the future. Of course using non-profits for investing shell games is probably a whole different problem I am not familiar with. But holding assets as a whole doesn’t seem like a big issue to me.

jvanderbot 5y ago
I believe it is right to provide recommendations against non-profits that hold significant assets in investments. I don't think it should be illegal or anything, but I do think that potential donors should be cautioned about this. Most people have the expectation that they are donating to fix a problem or keep an organization running, not increase the returns on investments. If a non-profit has a long-term strategy, that should probably involve setting up _other_ institutions that can self-sustain, rather than "We'll get rich first". The _problem_ is that this translates to some expectation that every dollar given should go immediately to purchasing something, and that somehow it's "more effective" for a person to go purchase things than to donate to, say, red cross. That's dead, dead wrong. Give money, let them invest in solutions. However, from the donor's perspective, donating stock, and other valuable stuff, is a good tax dodge. You don't have to pay capital gains taxes and then send money to the org. So usually the org is happy to accept these gifts, but yes, they'll sell them.

vmception 5y ago

yeah that's probably true, I guess the reality is that I wasn't looking at ones accepting stock, but physical art and crypto. Some do and that number is growing by orders of magnitude each year because its now the 2020s, but many think it's still the year 1997. It is surprising how low tech that entire sector is. It seems to be a recurring story for new entrants to the non profit space to be the "tech savvy one doing things differently", because the whole space is, I guess, not market driven as it isn't motivated by being technologically aware. Only getting a few recurring donors and doing their mission.

jvanderbot 5y ago
In each case, it is liquidated and used as cache. Some of the skill of the best philanthropy folks is in finding ways to offload these wonky donations that donors think are useful. However, from the donor's perspective, donating stock, and other valuable stuff, is a good tax dodge. You don't have to pay capital gains taxes and then send money to the org. So usually the org is happy to accept these gifts, but yes, they'll sell them.